Variable-speed inking mechanism.



E. J. SMlTH." VARIABLE SPEED INKING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19. I916.

Patented July 24, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1- E. 1. SMITH.

VARIABLE SPEED lNKlNG MECHANiSM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I9, 1916.

1 www Patented July 24, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 :Illlllll 11/1)! IINITEE ATE PATEN T ERNEST JAMES SMITH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE GOSS PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

VARIABLE-SPEED INKING MECHANISM.

Application filed June 19, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST JAMES SMITH, a subject of the King of England, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Variable-Speed Inking Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to variable speed inking mechanisms for printing presses, and it has for one of its objects the provision of a new and improved form' and arrangement of driving means for the inking mechanisms. It is another object of my invention to provide a variable speed mechanism for driving the inking mechanism, together with an auxiliary driving means by which the rate of driving through the variable speed mechanism may be controlled. It is another object of my invention to improve inking mechanisms in sundry details hereinafter pointed out. The preferred means by which I have accomplished the several objects of my invention are illustrated in the drawings and are hereinafter specifically described. That which I believe to be new and desire to cover by this application is set forth in the claims.

In the drawingsz- Figure 1 is a side view showing a portion of a press embodying my improvedinking mechanism Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the sever-a1 figures of the drawings in which corresponding parts are indicated by the same reference characters,-

10 indicates the framework of a press provided with form cylinders 11, impression cylinders 12 and inking cylinders 13 and 14 together with cooperating ink distributing devices. Ink is delivered to the inking cylinders 14 by means of oscillating rollers 15 adapted to be moved by any suitable means between the inking cylinders 14, and fountain rollers 16 revolubly mounted by means of shafts 17 so as to rotate in inkfountains 18. Each of the shafts 17 is provided on its outer end with a worm-gear 19 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 24, 1917.

Serial No. 104,465.

meshing with a worm 20 carried by a vertical shaft 21. The shaft 21 is driven by the shaft 22 through the medium of bevel-gears 23-24.

The means for driving the shaft 22 comprises a shaft 25 driven by means of gears 26-27 from the shaft 28 upon which one of the lower impression cylinders 12 is mounted, the shaft 25 being connected with the shaft 22 through the medium of a planetary gear mechanism, which, in connection with an auxiliary motor 29, is adapted to effect a differential driving of the shaft 22. The planetary gearing comprises a head 30 fixed upon the shaft 25 and provided with planetgears 31-32 revolubly mounted thereon, such planet-gears 31-32 being in mesh with a sun-gear 33 fixed upon a shaft 34 in alinement with the shaft 25. The head 30 is provided with an anti-friction bearing 35 for the inner end of the shaft 34. An internal gear 36 meshing with the planet-gears 31-32 is revolubly mounted upon the shaft 34, an anti-friction bearing 37 being interposed between the hub of the gear 36 and the framework 10 of the press. The shafts 34 and 22 are operatively connected together by means of bevel gears 38 and 39 mounted upon the respective shafts. The internal-gear 36 is provided on its outer surface with worm-gear teeth 40 meshing with a worm 41 driven by the motor 29.

The motor 29 is preferably to be driven in clockwise direction in Fig. 2 so as to drive the internal gear 36 in counterolockwise direction in Fig. 1, the head 30 being driven in clockwise direction in Fig. 1. reason of the gear 36 and the head 30 being driven in opposite directions, the effective driving of the shaft 34 through the planetary gearing from two sources is cumulative, the effect of driving from each source and the aggregate efiect of driving from the two sources being to rotate the fountainrollers 16 in clockwise direction in Fig. 1. The speed of rotation of the motor 29 is designed to be such as to bring the effective driving from the two sources to the desired aggregate for producing the desired rotation of the fountain-rollers 16. With the head 30 being given approximately 125 rotations per minute in the operation; of the press as compared to a speed of 150 rotations per minute for the cylinders 1112, and with the motor 29 being driven at a speed of 3000 rotations per minute, the fountain-rollers 16 will be driven at a speed of approximately 25 revolutions per minute. VV'th the form cylinders driven in the operation of the press at 300 revolutions per minute, and with the motor 29 driven at 3000 revolutions per minute, the fountainrollers would be given approximately 40' revolutions per minute.

With the press being driven at its slow speed of 10 revolutions per minute for the form cylinders, for threading the web through the press preparatory for a run, and with the motor 29 being driven at 8000 revolutions per minute, the fountain-rollers 16 would be given from 6 to 6-3,- rotations per minute. That is to say, with the press driven at its full-speed and with the motor 29 driven at full-speed, the fountainrollers 16 will be driven at about a quarter of their full-speed rate. Thus when the press is being driven at its low speed, the inking rollers are being driven at approximately four times the corresponding speed, serving thus to bring the inking mechanism quickly to a properly inked-up condition at the low speed driving whereby the loss in printed product when the press is brought to full-speed is kept to a minimum.

The motor 29 is preferably provided with a controller circuit 42 leading to any suitable station of the press for arbitrarily controlling the speed of rotation. By the use of such circuit the pressman is enabled at any time to slow down or speed up the motor 29 when for any reason it is desired that a smaller amount or a larger amount of ink be delivered from the fountains 18. This enables the pressman also to very materially increase the speed of rotation of the inking rollers 16 while the press is being run at low speed, if such an operation is deemed advisable. If it should be desired, the inking rollers 16 can be rotated in clockwise direction in Fig. 1 by the motor 29 independently of the press,that is to say, when the head 30 is stationary.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, variable speed mechanism driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and a second variable speed mechanism operating independently of the press connected with said first-named variable speed mechanism and adapted to control the speed of driving through said first-named variable speed mechanism.

2. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, variable speed mechanism driven in timed relation to the speed. of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and a variable speed motor ope 'ating independently of the press connected with said first-named variable speed mechanism and adapted to control the speed of driving through said first-named variable speed mechanism.

3. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and a variable speed mechanism connected with said planetary gearing and adapted to control the speed of driving through said planetary gearin 4. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing driven in timed relation to thespeed or the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and a variable speed mechanism operating inclependently' of the press connected with said planetary gearing and adapted to control the speed of driving through said planetary gearmg.

5. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and a variable speed motor operating independently of the press. connected with said planetary gearing and adapted to control the speed of driving through said planetary gearing.

6. In a printing press, the combination of a plurality of inking rollers, planetary gearing driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between said. planetary gearing and said inking rollers for rotating said rollers, and a variable speed motor operating independently of the press connected with said planetary gearing and adapted to control the speed of driving through said planetary gearing.

7. In a printing press, the combination .of

an inking device, variable speed mechanism driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and other means operating independently of the operation of the press adapted to be driven at a constant speed while the press is attaining full-speed and adapted by operative connection with said variable speed mechanism to vary the speed of driving through the variable speed mechanism.

8. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking device, and other means operating independently of the operation of the press adapted to cooperate i;

in driving said planetary gearing at a constant speed while the press is operating at low speed and then attaining full-speed.

9. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing one member of which is driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between a second member of said planetary gearing and said inking device for driving the inking device in the desired direction, and other means operating inclependently of the operation of the press adapted to drive a third member of said planetary gearing in a direction to assist in driving the inking device in the desired direction.

10. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing one member of piich is driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between a second member of said planetary gearing and said inking device for driving the inking device in the desired direction, and other means operating independently of the operation of the press adapted to drive a third member of said planetary gearing in adirection to assist in driving the inking device in the desired direction, said last-named driving means being adapted to drive at a varied speed for controlling the speed of rotation of the inking device.

11. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing one member of which is driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between a second member of said planetary gearing and said inking device for driving the inking device in the desired d1- rection, and a motor operating independently of the press adapted to drive a third member of said planetary gearlng at a constant speed while the press is operating at low speed and then attalnlng full-speed, whereby the inking device is driven faster relative to the speed of the press when the press is operating at low speed than when the press is operating at high speed.

12. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing one member of which is driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between a second member of said planetary gearing and said inking device for driving the inking device inthe deslred d1- reetion, and a motor operating independently of the press adapted to drive a third memer of said planetary gearing at a constant speed while the press is operating at low speed and then attaining full-speed, whereby as the speed of the press is increased the speed of the inking device is increased at a relatively slower rate.

13. In a printing press, the combination of an inking device, planetary gearing one member of which is driven in timed relation to the speed of the press, driving connections between a second member of said planetary gearing and said inking device for driving the inking device in the desired direction, and a motor operating inde pendently of the press adapted to drive a third member of said planetary gearing at a constant speed while the press is operating at low speed and then attaining full-speed, whereby the inking device is driven faster relative to the speed of the press when the press is operating at low speed than when the press is operating at high speed, said motor being adapted to drive said inking device in the same direction through said planetary gearing when the press is out of operation.

14. In a printing press, the combination of a head rotated in timed relation to the speed of the press, a planet-gear mounted on said head eccentrically thereof, a sun-gear revolubly mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planet-gear, an inking device, driving connections between said sun-gear and said inking device, an internal gear mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planetgear, and means for rotating said internal gear for controlling the driving of said inking device.

15. In a printing press, the combination of a head rotated in timed relation to the speed of the press, a planet-gear mounted on said head eccentrically thereof, a sun-gear revolubly mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planet-gear, an inking device driving connections between said sun-gear and said inking device, an internal gear mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planet-gear, and means for rotating said internal gear at variable speeds for controlling the driving of said inking device.

16. In a printing press, the combination of a head rotated in timed relation to the speed of the press, a planet-gear mounted on said head eccentrically thereof, a sungear revolubly mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planetgear, an inking device, driving connections between said sun-gear and said inking device, an internal gear mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planet-gear, and means for rotating said internal gear at a constant speed as the speed of rotation of the head varies, whereby the speed of driving the inking device may be controlled.

17. In a print-ing press, the combination of a head rotated in timed relation to the speed of the press, a planet-gear mounted on said head eccentrically thereof, a sungear revolubly mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planetgear, an inking device, driving connections between said sun-gear and said inking device, an internal gear mounted upon the axis of said head and meshing with said planet-gear, and means for rotating said internal gear at any of a plurality of constant speeds as the speed of rotation of the head varies whereby the speed of driving the inking device may be controlled.

18. In a printing press, the combination 5 of an inking device, variable speed mechanism driven in timed relation to the speed of the press adapted to actuate said inking Gopiesof this patent may be obtained for device, and other means operating independently of the operation of the press adapted by operative connection with said 10 variable speed mechanism to vary the speed of driving through the variable speed mechanism.

ERNEST JAMES SMITH.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

